Got Your Back
by saku642734
Summary: while patrolling Knockturn Alley, Hermione comes across a suspicious scene. Sticking around leads to her becoming an unsuspecting caretaker for the night. (written for round 5 of the Quidditch League FanFiction Competition, season 6)


**This story is based on Harry Potter written by J.K Rowling**

 **A/N: This is being written for the quidditch league fanfiction competition season 6**

 **Round 5- Borrowed Inspiration**

 **Beater 1- use the title of a story written by your beater 2 for inspiration. (Chosen title - Left Behind)**

 **Prompts- 3. (Dialogue) "Do you mind if we stop for a minute?"**

 **9\. (Word) Playful**

 **14\. (Action) Pacing nervously**

* * *

Low heeled shoes click soundlessly across the pavement thanks to well-cast silencing and cushioning charms placed on her shoes.

Every night, someone from Magical Law Enforcement is sent out to patrol both Diagon and Knockturn Alley. Checking for any remnants of the Death Eaters or voldemort's influence. The job is only a few hours long at best, leaving the officer plenty of time to finish their patrol before heading home.

Tonight, Hermione is the one stalking the streets. Sure, it's relatively uneventful most nights, but the job still has to be done. If the trend remains the same she'll be able to relax, and catch up on quality sleep that night.

By this point, she has already finished patrolling Diagon Alley, and has managed to get halfway through Knockturn Alley, without incident.

She sighs to herself as she walks further down the alley, _let's not jinx it, I'm almost done._ With fanciful visions of her flat on her mind, she turns a corner towards Borgin and Burkes, when she sees two figures at the end of the alley.

Cursing her horrible luck, she ducks into an alcove before they see her, thanking Merlin for magic as she Disillusions herself.

Even though it's quite dark outside, there's enough moonlight to see that one, possibly male, figure with his back towards her has reflective blonde hair. The rest of him is shrouded in darkness as is the person with him.

Hermione squints, trying to get a closer look at the second person. Unable to see a face thanks to their hooded cloak, she sighs dejectedly. Not everyone that frequents Knockturn Alley is up to something, but more often than not, they are. There's also the chance of a connection with Death Eaters yet to be caught.

 _Great, definitely too suspicious to ignore, I'll never get home at this rate._ She settles in, deciding that waiting for them to act would be the best option for now. _If I interrupt now, the opportunity to gather information will be lost._

She doesn't have to wait for long for them to start talking. Listening intently, she recognizes the blonde immediately, really the hair should have been her tip off, it's Malfoy's signature.

Malfoy leans back casually against his side of the alley. "Now, what is so important that this couldn't wait until a more reasonable hour?"

She nods along with his statement. _Yes, please enlighten us as to why you are keeping me from certain sleep_. The patrol shift isn't exactly taxing, but incidents like this can lead to hours of over time. _Harry had to clock in five extra hours after chasing down Adrian Pucey._

The cloaked figure snickers. "Of course Draco, straight to business then?"

The voice sounds slightly familiar to her, but that isn't enough information, all that is obvious to her is that it's a man.

When Malfoy just stands there silently, he continues, "That group I told you about is forming soon, they sent me to recruit you. A chunk of our old school friends are refusing unless you join up first."

Malfoy's left arm twitching is the only outward reaction Hermione can see from her crouched position in the alcove. They continue, not giving her time to dwell on the previous statement.

Crossing his arms, Malfoy sneers at him. "Why would I bother joining this group of yours? Do you even know who's forming it?"

The stranger just scoffs. "You can't know until you join."

He scoffs right back at him. "As if I'd join anyway, you know we're not dumb enough to do that shite again."

The cloaked stranger flicks his hand in a movement to draw his wand that Malfoy doesn't see, his attention drawn to the other man's face. Hermione does from her position. Straightening her stance slowly, she readies herself as they continue.

The stranger chuckles. "You don't have a choice, you either join or you die. There's nobody around to protect you, even if it was broad daylight in the middle of Diagon Alley, you would have no one."

With her wand at the ready Hermione thinks, _I'm here and no one is dying on my watch, no matter who they are._

"Malfoys don't need protection," Malfoy snarls his reply.

He goes to draw his wand, but the other guy is faster given his wand is already in his hand. In a quick motion, he casts a vicious _Sectumsempra_ directly at Malfoy's chest.

Hermione _casts_ _Expelliarmus_ , _Petrificus Totalus_ , and _Incarcerous_ in a flurry by the time the first syllable is out of his mouth, but she isn't fast enough to stop him from casting.

Malfoy's cry of pain is cut off by a gurgling sound coming from his throat, before he hits the ground. Hermione sprints forward, stunning the immobilized man for good measure, giving him not time to retaliate.

She kneels down at Malfoy's side and starts chanting _Vulnera Sanentur_. Thank Merlin that she bothered to learn it after the war; _Sectumsempra_ was a widely used spell during the final battle after all. Lack of knowledge at the time caused many unnecessary deaths, Hermione remembers with a twitch in her heart. Shaking it off, she renews her concentration to cast it correctly.

Once Hermione is able to finish a rough patch job on all of the injuries, she summons her Patronus. "There has been an incident in the alley across from Borgin and Burkes. The assailant was able to severely injure a civilian before being disarmed, stunned and restrained. A locator will be placed, and I will take the civilian in for treatment. Get here quickly, we cannot leave him unattended." With the message received, the otter takes off towards the other Magical Law Enforcement officer on duty.

Hermione walks over to the incapacitated man across the alleyway, reapplies all the spells and adds a locator spell. She takes a quick glance at his face, but thanks to his hood, it's still too dark to see.

She sighs, taking a look would be a waste of precious time. _I better leave that for the others to deal with, Malfoy is more important._

Kneeling back down, she gets a good grip on him in preparation for apparating to St. Mungo's. Right as she prepares to leave, Malfoy's hand grips her shoulder. He makes another gurgling sound that reminds her that he is most likely choking on his own blood, and he might also have internal damage even though the slashes looked shallow enough. _Must not have been at full power._

Hermione casts a quick Anapneo to clear his airway and waits for him to speak. He gives a cough that doesn't sound too bad, _his lungs must not be seriously damaged if at all_ _._ He makes eye contact with her and says roughly, "Not St. Mungo's Granger, the reporters."

She nods in understanding, arriving there in this state would mean another front page article. Nobody wants to deal with that.

This of course means she has to figure out something else. Muggle hospitals are out, since they would ask too many questions, and there aren't any other wizarding hospitals within apparating distance. Besides herself, the only others with healer training that she trusts, are Harry and Poppy Pomfrey. _They don't need to be dragged into this, they have their own jobs to concentrate on._

Which leaves her flat as the only other place with enough supplies that comes to mind. _Looks like there won't be any sleep tonight._ She sighs, "Alright Malfoy, just... no complaining."

He nods and closes his eyes while keeping his grip on her shoulder. His skin is turning paler by the second, time is of the essence. She adjusts her hold and apparates directly into her living room.

* * *

 _First things first_. _Hermione casts_ _Mobilicorpus_ on Malfoy and levitates him to her couch, setting him down gently.

Transitioning to her professional mode, she hurries over to the bathroom to get supplies from the cabinet. She can hear Malfoy's groaning coming from the living room as she searches. It takes a minute, but she is able to find _Blood Replenishing Potion_ , _Essence of Dittany_ , and a healing potion for possible internal bleeding.

Once back in the living room, she sets everything down onto the side table. Looking over, she sees he's lying on the couch out cold. After calling his name fails to work, Hermione saves time and rouses Malfoy with a gentle slap to the face.

He jerks and sputters for a second, before his eyes land on Hermione. "Bloody hell, Granger! What was that for?" He groans.

Hermione scoffs while reaching for the internal healing potion. "Don't be such a drama queen, I merely tapped you." She pulls the stopper off of the vial. "I need you to stay awake to take these potions." She leans over and props him up with the couch cushions.

She brings the vial to his lips, but Malfoy cuts her off. "Hold on, I can take them myself."

Hermione backs off, "Oh?" and glances pointedly at his shaking hands.

Malfoy sighs. "Fine, have it your way."

She brings the vial back to his lips, and he drinks it this time. Wanting to break the tension and feeling playful, she says, "There, that wasn't so bad, was it?"

He snorts after he finishes choking the potion down. "Yes it was, extremely bad." She moves to pick up the next potion when he waves her off. "Do you mind if we stop for a minute?" He rubs his throat and grimaces dramatically. "The next one will certainly kill me."

 _Hermione rolls her eyes,_ _the biggest drama queen_. "Alright, just for a minute, we have to finish healing you."

While Malfoy takes a break, Hermione takes stock of the rest of him. Besides his torn up shirt and the fresh leftover blood, everything seems fine. Since the minute is almost up, she takes the chance to clean and check over the remaining wounds.

Ignoring Malfoy's surprised yelp, she uses the tip of her wand to cut the remains of his shirt down the middle. After spreading the sides and using _Tergeo_ to clean the blood, she is able to see the remaining damage. The longer, sword-like slashes are now partially healed, but not enough to close them. _The Essence of Dittany will still be needed for it not to scar._

Hermione grabs the _Blood Replenishing Potion_ from the table and unstoppers it. "Well? Done with your little break yet?" she teases, waving the potion around playfully.

Malfoy sighs. "Just get it over with, Granger." She helps him drink it with no further comments. He grimaces as he forces it down. "Bloody disgusting."

Hermione reaches over to the table and grabs the _Essence of Dittany_ as the last step. She unscrews the top and fills the dropper. Leaning over, she warns, "This might sting a bit." The liquid starts to drip down onto the wounds; Malfoy hisses as the skin sizzles, and steam rises as it slowly grows back together.

After the treatment is finished, Malfoy is able to relax marginally, and the potions seem to be improving his too pale complexion and shaky hands. As Hermione is gathering up the remaining supplies and used vials, Malfoy asks, "Why did you help me?"

Hermione's brows scrunch together in confusion. "It's my job as a Magical Law Enforcement Officer, I happened to be on patrol."

Malfoy waves away her explanation. "No, no, not that." He pushes himself up into a sitting position. "Even if it wasn't your job, you're too much of a Gryffindor not to get involved." He leans back into the couch and takes a breather before continuing. "I'm talking about after that, you could have ignored me and taken me straight to St. Mungo's easily." By now Hermione has her arms crossed in front of her and an eyebrow raised expectantly. "Could have let The Daily Prophet write another embarrassing story about me as revenge."

Hermione doesn't need to ask what the revenge would be for. She can guess he's talking about their years at Hogwarts. "Honestly Malfoy, we're not children anymore. I like to think we've matured past petty revenge." _Besides my type of revenge wouldn't use the Daily Prophet._ "I wouldn't leave you behind to that fate."

Hermione walks to the bathroom to deposit the items and hears Malfoy's raised voice, sarcastically say, "I'm touched."

Walking back in, she replies with a smirk, "Pfft, don't think this means I care or something." She takes a seat. _Civility and small amounts of kindness is all I can offer_. "Alright back to business, from what I heard of the conversation, a group of some kind is recruiting followers and support. Whoever that was is probably being interrogated right now." She shrugs her shoulders. "Care to fill me in anyway?"

Malfoy groans and throws an arm over his eyes. "Must you interrogate me so soon after my traumatic experience?"

Hermione sighs and struggles to cover her amusement. "Yes, I must." _Besides, if he can act like this, he's probably fine_.

Malfoy readjusts his position. "Fine, I'll leave the details for your interrogators to explain. To start, the other person there was Marcus Flint. He's out recruiting supporters for some kind of Death Eater revival. I don't know much more than that." He combs his fingers through his hair. "The letter he sent me said there was a group forming that he wanted to tell me about."

Malfoy gives a full body twitch, as if shocked by something. He hisses at the strain as he stands, and slowly starts pacing around the living room, nervously pulling at his sleeve. "He said that there was a group of classmates that would refuse to join if I didn't. What if they're killed?"

Hermione, in an attempt to calm him down, says, "Flint is in custody, remember? He's being interrogated and then put in a holding cell before his trial; he won't be going around killing people."

Malfoy's pacing only intensifies. "What if someone else was nearby or he had to report back to someone." He waves his arms in front of him. "And when he doesn't check in, they take that as the signal to kill the others, whoever they are."

Hermione stands, and on his next pass, grabs ahold of his shoulders. "Calm down, you need to sit so you don't aggravate your wounds. I'll send a Patronus, and the Aurors will do what they can."

Malfoy sags in her hold, and she leads him back to the couch. After setting him down she conjures her otter. "Harry, by now you have probably heard about the incident in Knockturn Alley. There is a possibility that a few Slytherin classmates are also being targeted. Marcus Flint in interrogation should know the identities. Send a team of Aurors to check as many as possible." Finally finishing the long message, Hermione sends off her Patronus. "See? Everything will be just fine."

Malfoy relaxes into the couch. "Thanks Granger." He releases a breath and checks the time only to discover that it is close to midnight. "I should get going, it's getting very late."

Hermione waves him off. "Don't worry about it." She Transfigures the couch into a bed which causes Malfoy to fall onto his back. "Besides, it's best you aren't alone right now. Wouldn't want some other recruiter killing you in your sleep. Who knows who still has access to the Malfoy Manor fireplace."

Malfoy groans from his place sprawled out on the newly made bed. "Of course, you're so kind." His voice is dripping with sarcasm.

Hermione chuckles on the way to her room. "Yell if you need me." She turns before closing her door. "Goodnight Malfoy."

She openly laughs at Malfoy's yell from the living room not even three seconds later. "Actually, ten more pillows would be lovely!"


End file.
